


Rumor Has It

by DisastrouslyYours



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, fake dating au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-11-17
Packaged: 2018-11-19 03:39:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11304921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisastrouslyYours/pseuds/DisastrouslyYours
Summary: Celebrity gossip about Murdoc and 2D being in a relationship gives Murdoc an idea that 2D may not be on board with.





	1. Headlines

It’s not that they weren’t friends, it’s just that they weren’t lovers. Magazines and tweets and fan discussions had begun to blur the line that seemed so definite to Murdoc. He regretted finally figuring out how social media worked, because it made things so damn complicated. Murmurs across the web about himself and 2D being in a secret relationship were his main cause of stress these days. He never regarded 2D as much more than a loose definition of a friend, never thought of him as much more than just a pretty boy with a pretty voice who helped his band’s image. After weeks of seeing the media speculate at “Gorillaz- Secret Romance!!” and “Shocking New Info About Gorillaz Members 2D and Murdoc!” and “What’s Really Going On with the Return of Gorillaz”, an idea nested itself in the corner of Murdoc’s brain.   

“Oi, face ache!” The bassist yelled as he kicked open the door to 2D’s bedroom. The other man winced from beneath the covers and rolled over, so that he was facing away from the now opened door. “I need to talk to you about something.” Murdoc’s voice was still urgent, but his tone was lower. With a sigh, 2D propped himself up on his elbows and met the other man’s gaze. 

“What.” The singer was not feeling up to any antics this morning, and wanted this conversation to move along rather quickly so he could get back to sleep. 

“Have you heard about the secret romance?” 2D blinked a couple times and scratched his head before replying, “does Noodle have a girlfriend we don’t know about?” 

“No, no, no! About us!” There was a certain light in Murdoc’s eyes that 2D couldn’t quite place. He furrowed his eyebrows together and tried to think of a decent response, seeing as he couldn’t imagine how they had anything more than a broken-but-on-the-mend friendship. _We used to be close friends._ 2D didn’t want the thought to stay long, and luckily for him Murdoc interrupted it by inviting himself to sit on the bed and shoving his phone into 2D’s face. 

“Look!” Murdoc seemed overly enthused about whatever was on his phone screen. _Should I be concerned?_ 2D’s conscience spoke up the best it could, yet was distracted by the headline Murdoc was trying to show him. “Gorillaz: The REAL Reason They’re Back Together!” 2D’s eyes landed on a picture of himself and Murdoc, where they seemed to be caught in the middle of something. 2D was sitting on a chair backstage with Murdoc hovering over him, both of them staring straight into the camera with the classic deer-in-headlights expression. He remembers exactly what was happening in that photo, being Noodle jokingly pushed Murdoc, who accidentally fell onto 2D. _This is not good._ He was about to voice his concerns to Murdoc, but once again the other man spoke before he had a chance. 

“This is great! A selling point!” The gleam in Murdoc’s two-tone eyes was stronger now, and the knot that was forming in 2D’s stomach tightened. 

“A, a selling point?” Wary of what the bassist’s response would be, 2D sat up fully and hugged his too long legs to his chest. 

“Listen, Dents” Murdoc scooted closer to the other man, making him just a bit more uncomfortable. “If the fans like to think we’re together, why don’t we let them? Why not give them a little more ‘evidence’?” 

“I’m not really sure what ya mean to say here, Muds.” It was too early for this cryptic, beat around the bush nonsense. _It’s 2:00 in the afternoon._ He wondered how he slept that late again after glancing at his clock, and wondered what time he actually fell asleep last night. 

“It’s simple, really. We pretend we’re dating, give the paparazzi something to photograph and the journalists something to write about. Think of the publicity! Think of the ratings! It’ll be incredible for the band’s image! Fans love drama, in fact, they’ll love this a lot!” Murdoc continued to rant and rave and ramble on about his ‘perfect’ new idea, and 2D did his best to drown it out. _This is not good. This is not good. This is very bad, can’t end well at all._ With an over exaggerated sigh, 2D threw himself back on his bed, placing his arms behind his head and staring blankly up at his ceiling. 

“What’s the matter with you? This is the greatest idea I’ve ever had, you should feel lucky to be a part of it.” Pleased with himself, Murdoc got up and left 2D’s room, annoyingly not closing the door on his way out. 

_Might as well just fall back asleep and hope he forgets about this one._ 2D groaned as he got up to close his bedroom door, made a point to lock it, and crawled back underneath the covers. _Today doesn’t have to happen, I can just sleep it off._ With that, he pulled the first pill bottle he saw out from the drawer on his bedside table, swallowed a couple, and patiently waited for his eyelids to get heavy.


	2. Instagram

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murdoc shows that he is serious about making it seem like him and 2D are dating. This does not go over well with any of the other bandmates.

Ringing, ringing, ringing. It will never stop. Not sure when he set an alarm, but 2D awoke to his phone frantically buzzing, commanding him to wake up. Squinting his right eye he saw that it was 9:00am. _Unusually early._ Grabbing his phone, he went to check his calendar to see if he had anything important that day. _I wouldn’t just set an alarm for no reason, right?_ He cursed his blotchy memory. His calendar proved to be empty, but he decided that since he was awake, he might as well shower. 

 

The water was warm, almost too much so, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He closed his eyes and let the warm engulf him. Gently, he started shampooing his hair and began humming to himself. He didn’t hear the door creak open, didn’t hear the footsteps on the bathroom tile, didn’t see the camera flash. 

After picking up the first articles of clothing he saw on his bedroom floor to wear, he went in search of some food that could loosely be defined as breakfast. As he descended the stairs he became concerned at the amount of yelling he could hear from his bandmates. 

 

“How could you do this? What is your motive, huh?! What are you getting out of this?” Noodle had backed Murdoc into a corner, with his hands up but still with a smirk on his face. 

 

“It’s like this, Noods. We get more publicity, we get more gigs, we get more money, more famous.” He ended his thought with a chuckle and a shrug. 

 

“Is that all you ever think about? Ugh, Murdoc!” For a second, it looked as though she might throw a punch. Noodle turned her head to see a very confused and upset 2D. In his hand was Noodle’s phone, which was left open to their band Instagram page. 2D’s eyes moved slowly from the phone screen, to Noodle, to Murdoc, back to Noodle. He felt as though his lungs were filled with lead and could feel his eyes start to sting. _God fucking damnit, not now. Keep yourself together._ Eyes locked with Noodle, he took as deep a breath as his lungs would allow. 

 

“…What am I looking at?” His voice was soft but smooth and calm, surprisingly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Murdoc shift, but he wanted Noodle to answer. _It’s better if she explains, I don’t want to hear his voice right now._ The room was silent and the tension was thick, 2D felt as though it might strangle him. Russel’s voice broke through with great thunder. 

 

“Murdoc I told you this was a stupid ass idea! And now you’ve gone and done it! Are you dumb? I can’t believe you, really, I can’t.” He turned to 2D and softened his tone. “Yo, Stu, I am so, so sorry, man.” He wrapped an arm around the taller man and gave a gentle squeeze. “So sorry he’s a fucking idiot and so sorry you’re caught up in one of his dumb ass schemes.” Russel glared at Murdoc, whose expression had changed from a smirk to a defensive sneer.

 

“I’m right, you’ll all see soon. I’m right.” He threw up his hands and stormed away, back up to his room to sulk. 

 

2D opted to pretend like the instagram post never happened, deleted it and continued his search for breakfast. He joined Russel and Noodle at the table, carrying his plate of toast and some ham slices with him. 

 

“It just sucks, you know?” He said after taking a bite of his toast. “I don’t get it. Guess he can’t just be a decent person.” 

 

Noodle and Russel exchanged glances. “Is there anything you’d like us to do?” Noodle asked, reaching her hand across the table to place it on top of 2D’s. 2D laughed a little and responded, “yeah, change the instagram password.” And with another bite of his toast he added, “change all the social media passwords.” 


	3. Waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murdoc's keeping up the antics and 2D becomes rather fed up with the whole situation. (slight drug abuse references)

2D sat on the couch idly scrolling through various social media apps on his phone. His feed appeared to be pretty normal, just different post by the various other artists he followed. He was ignoring the hundreds of notifications, no doubt by fans. It’s not that he didn’t care, because he cared deeply- it was just that he didn’t have the energy to engage with all of them. He always felt bad when he couldn’t respond to all of them, and replying to hundreds of comments was very taxing on him. It was a mindless activity, just something for him to do to pass the time, until he stumbled upon a promoted post from some paparazzi instagram. It was of the picture Murdoc posted on their instagram, captioned “Gorillaz open up about their bandmate’s relationship? Maybe, maybe not! This post was deleted shortly after it was put up… #scandalous #gorillazupdates #2doc” 

 

He almost threw his phone and also almost threw up right then an there. The #2doc kept swirling in his mind, making him dizzy. _No. No, this isn’t happening. They don’t have a name for it. This isn’t real, wake up Stu._ His breaths shortened and he realized he was hyperventilating. Everything was fuzzy, he wanted to pass out and get it over with. It felt as though he could feel the world tilting in real time, as if he was excruciatingly aware of gravity and earth’s rotation. He was stunned, paralyzed in the position he was sitting in, and didn’t notice the figure approaching him. His eyes were squeezed shut in an effort to stop the spinning at the same moment that he felt someone brush their lips against his cheek. His brain was still pounding against his skull but his arms were able to push the other body off of him. 

 

“Murdoc?!” He propelled himself across the couch and as far away from the other man as possible. His breathing had returned to normal, and he was holding his head for fear of it actually rolling off of his neck. “What the bloody hell?!” His blood was boiling and he searched the bassist’s mismatched eyes for some form of an explanation. 

 

“Don’t you see, Dents? The first post was a huge success! Deleting it was such a great move, 2D, you see that got people talking about it even more! Amazing, sometimes you have smart ideas. Glad to see you’re finally starting to see how great this is. I was wondering if…” Stuart wasn’t focused on Murdoc’s rambling words anymore, there was too much blood ringing in his ears to actually hear him. 

 

“Oi, face ache, are you still listening to me?” Murdoc had crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow to emphasize his impatience. 

 

“Are you serious?” His voice was strained, and he glared angrily at the man across from him. Murdoc just stood there, and for once in his life was silent. “Is that what you think this is? A success?” He waited for a response, not sure if he really wanted one and knowing he wouldn’t want to listen to one. Murdoc dropped his arms to his sides and slouched over a bit, seemingly unsure what to do with himself in his given situation. “I can’t believe you, I really can’t. I don’t even know how I’m even still surprised by how low you’ll stoop.” 

 

The silence began to grow and the staring match between the two men became increasingly intense. 2D could physically feel his blood boiling and hated how the silence pierced his eardrums. “You’re really a bloody piece of work, and the worst part is that you know it. What really gets me is you don’t give a shit about me, and you say you care about the band, but you only really care about the band’s success. You’ll do anything to climb to the top, you’ve already bloody gone and sold your damn soul. Do you have no limits? You’ll stop at nothing, Murdoc, so please sod off and leave me alone.” His words came spilling out of him faster than his brain could process them. His brain was filled with images and emotions, and while he wanted to just scream for the sake of getting them out, he waited to see if the other man would give any sort of response or explanation. 

 

“Stu…” Murdoc exhaled after another minute or so of silence. 

 

“Don’t you fucking “Stu” me, you asshole.” He had reached his tipping point. 2D pushed himself up from the couch, grabbed the pack of cigarettes that were peaking out of Murdoc’s pocket and checked his own to make sure he had some pills on him and headed out the front door. 

——

His only goal was to walk as far as his legs would bring him, call Russel to come pick him up and pass out in the car. Unfortunately for 2D, he swallowed nearly the entire bottle of pills instantly and was on his 3rd or 4th cigarette. It really didn’t matter to him as he was only trying to stop the thoughts in his head from appearing, but it seemed that the harder he tried the more he focused on them. He kept seeing Murdoc’s face, kept thinking about how his lips felt when they brushed against his skin, kept hearing him say his _real_ name over and over. It was beyond overwhelming, there was no thinking straight at this point. It was getting dark, so 2D decided to go slump against a tree and give Russel a call. 

 

_Come on, pick up._ It was abnormal of Russel not to pick up his phone right away, which worried 2D slightly. Finally he heard a voice on the other end softly murmured “…Dents?”. Immediately he realized that this was not Russel’s voice and cursed himself for not watching who he was calling. 

 

“Come pick me up.” His words were slurred and he became increasingly aware of the tension building in his head. “I’m at a tree, a big one, pretty nice, actually.” 

 

“Ah Stu, can you send me your location?” 2D wasn’t sure if he heard the tinge of worry in Murdoc’s voice or not. “Actually, you already have it on. I’ll be there in 10 minutes, don’t go anywhere, okay?” There was a pause, as if he expected a response. “Stu? Promise me you won’t move?” 

 

That time he definitely heard the tinge of worry, and it irritated him. _Of course he can’t lose his pretty boy front man singer, of course. He doesn’t really care, it’s all about the image._ “Promise.” 2D hung up the phone and allowed his eyelids to gently start to fall. What felt like seconds later he felt arms around him that were attempting to get him to stand up. A brief thought crossed his mind in which he realized this could potentially be anybody, until he heard the all too familiar voice whisper “Come on, Stu, let’s get you into the car, okay? Let’s get you home.” 2D leaned into the body that was next to him, and let himself be carried into the car and laid on the backseat. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt from a tumblr anon I was more than happy to take on. First chapter was a little on the shorter side, but I hope to develop the following chapters to be a little lengthier. Your feedback, as always, is loved and appreciated!


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